CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Thanksgiving Day opened without power at more than 14,000 homes and businesses across West Virginia as high winds continued throughout the Mountain State.
Restoration work from crews with Appalachian Power, Mon Power and Potomac Edison was underway statewide.
As of 4 a.m. Thursday, the largest numbers of outages were reported in Jackson County, Marshall County and Mineral County but, overall, outages were widespread.
Estimated restoral times varied by location.
Many Wind Advisories or High Wind Warnings had been lifted or were in the process of being lifted.
A High Wind Warning from the National Weather Service was still in effect until 1 p.m. Thursday in these counties: Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley, Hardy, Grant, Mineral, Pendleton and western Greenbrier.
A 10 a.m. lift time was scheduled for High Wind Warnings in Tucker County and eastern Preston County.
Typically, a High Wind Warning indicates sustained winds of 25 to 35 miles per hour with possible gusts of up to 60 miles per hour.
The following high wind gusts were reported to the National Weather Service on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning:
– Snowshoe, 67 mph
– Romney, 60 mph
– Canaan Heights, 59 mph
– Petersburg, 58 mph
– Bramwell, 58 mph
– Martinsburg, 58 mph
– Wheeling, 54 mph
– Beckley, 46 mph
– Buckhannon, 46 mph.
Damage assessments were continuing on Thursday.